samuri.co.uk

Bike: Handjob
Distance:66 miles

Grrrr!!!! Proper ride. Last biggie before Keilder, (assuming I actually get there but more on that later).

Three towers from my house and then come back and visit Darwen and Rivington again, ride home. Do it fast. Well, I didn’t do it that fast to be honest. The route profile belows says 4 hours but that’s not right, about 6.5 hours which is roughly 10 mph average but I deliberately took it a bit easier than normal. I felt FANTASTIC the whole way round, really good. My back gave me a couple of pings (it’s always been my weak point) but each time I stopped, did some stretching and that seemed to sort it, thanks DONK! Superb advice.

Pity the same couldn’t be said for the bike. The indexing was screwed from the start despite me checking it before I left. The back brake very quickly reverted to ‘fucking useless’ and the front packed in about ten miles from home. The rear mech exploded about 5 miles from home and I finished the ride with the chain looping round the bottom mech wheel bolt, that made a nice noise. I can buy a new mech but the brakes need to be replaced under warranty. I need to have a sit down tonight and think what I’m going to do with them. I have some mini’s on the chameleon which I could move across, or buy a couple of deores and sell them after Kielder, seems like a whole big waste of money though. Never get these ones sorted by friday though so I might not be able to make it. Bit ironic really, I’m fitter than I’ve been since I was 18 and riding road races on a pig iron Raleigh, probably even fitter than I was then to be honest, and the bike has let me down big time, or shimano have at least.

Anyway, profile from today. Sweet!. Click to make it bigger. 66 miles, 2223m of climbing, get in!

Edit: Weekly mileage update. Going to be shockingly crap, hang on…..

246 miles for the week, cripes, I should just go and sit in front of the telly all week, it’s hardly worth it.

Bike: Vela
Distance: 44 miles

Nice ride! Bit windy but fast and fun. Felt FANTASTIC! Could have ridden all day at high speed but had to get back home. Did a big loop that took me round through to Bolton, big climb up to the top of ‘th hill, back down to Horwich, Adlington, Standish, Haigh, Little Scotland. A surprising amount of climbing too. I’m not sure how much or indeed, what my average speed was because my GPS IS FUCKING BROKEN AGAIN!! Garmin have yet to respond to my less than pleasant email but I should imagine I’ll get a robot asking me to supply the serial number and these details so we can provide you with a RMA number, please wait 3 weeks for your device to be reloaded and a new serial number sticker put on it…I mean replaced. Feckers. They better have something good up their sleeve or I’ll be giving them some bad press. Bet they’re crapping themselves.

Bike:Vela
Distance: 28 miles

That was a special ride to say the least. Started out sunny but windy, turned greyer as I rode round. As I started on my way down from Walker Fold the rain started, properly started. Painful rain in my face wind very hard, I could hardly see, each car that passed me sprayed a huge sheet of water over me. Struggled into Belmont and started the climb up over the tops. What I have been previously experiencing was merely a warm up. As I came round the lake at the bottom the rain and wind seriously picked up. I have never ridden in such heavy rain in my life. It literally was like someone pointing a load of powerful showers right into my face. I couldn’t see more than 3 foot in front of my wheel because of the amount of water blasting into my eyes. Finally got to the top where it backed off a bit, made it down into Rivington without dying and then the rain picked up again as I staggered along Chorley new road.

Any hopes of doing a 40 miler were out the window, I just needed to get out of the rain. Luckily the roads were pretty quite cos I’d have gone under a car a few times as the wind blasted me about. Finally rolled into our road, properly battered. Not a fitness ride but a toughening up ride.And to think I was trying to decide which coat to take, the storm jacket or the shower jacket. Obviously I took the wrong one.

It’s sunny now.

Bike: Vela
Distance: 30 miles

Ooh, that was better. Decided to have a day off yesterday and felt all perky and quick today. Not as far as I intended and I actually meant to go out tonight but didn’t bother. So that’s 108 for the week so far. Hopefully get in a 40 early tomorrow morning, maybe the same again Saturday and then around a 60 mile offroad hell-fest that I’ve got planned on Sunday which would be a bit crap really, 248 miles in a week? I could do that in my sleep!! Wonder if I can make Saturday’s ride about 60 miles….. hmmmm.

Bike: Vela
Distance: 37 miles

I dunno. Don’t ask me, just, I dunno. I was slow, real slow. Legs hurt like crazy.  Dunno. Best not talk about heights or average speeds.

Bike: Vela
Distance:41 miles

Sometimes you’ve got to sit up and have a rest, to remember what it’s all about. That was today’s ride, a recovery ride. A bit of a treat for working hard. So no ragged breathing, no high gear heroics, no chasing cars, just a nice easy ride in the country (except maybe the climb up out of Withnell). So I meander over to Belmont, along the road to Roddlesworth, Withnell, wheelton, Chorlton, back home via Adlington and Bolton. Not a big climb fest as such but I’d guess around 700m climbing. 19mph average. I only really put the power right down along Chorley new road when I made sure I kept in a buses slipstream, but then, that’s the law.

Tomorrow, back to the grindstone.

Bike: Pimpino
DIstance:61 miles

What a shit week for riding this week has been! Set off this morning with a 100+ mile ride planned (again). I thought I’d sorted the cranks out, pulled, cleaned, greased and refitted them and up to ten miles it felt like I had. Of course, then they started creaking again. Not as badly so I carried on but then my back started giving me gyp. IN fact, after about 40 odd miles it was hurting so bad I decided to call it a day and head for home. The creaking got worse and so did my back to the extent where I had to find a shop that was selling ibuprofen just to take the edge off it.

Not sure what that’s about, need some photos of me riding to see what my position is like, feels comfy enough, could possibly be my Bak being full of water (3 litres), it was still pretty full when I got home. Maybe a combination of the pronish position plus a big weight on my back. Fine now though.

Anyway, 61 miles and you can see how bad I was feeling because despite it being fairly flat, 15mph average, even if it was mostly offroad.

Assuming I don’t get out tonight, that’s an extremely disappointing 179 miles for the week. Really though, I should get out even if it’s just to push it over 200.

Bike: Vela
Distance:45 miles

Not ridden for two days so expected to be on fire but I just felt crap all the way round. Couldn’t seem to get any air into my lungs, my legs felt heavy and my shoulders were aching. Dunno. So I cut the climb-fest short and headed for easier territory. Nice to ride some leafy lanes fast actually. Started feeling better near the end and really picked it up a bit. Obvious near car interfaces ensue as a great many drivers simply couldn’t anticipate my speed, or didn’t care.

Cock of the day award goes to a motorcyclist overtaking a load of cars near Rivington, he passed me doing about 70, (making our combined passing speed about 90mph), about 2 foot away. He got a big wanker sign and I made sure he saw it.

45 miles, 750m climbing, 19.3mph average. Told you I was riding slow.

Past
Thursday: Start work at 7:00, meetings ALL day, phone never stops ringing, finish about 23:00, fall into bed shattered. (No riding)
Friday: Up very early, going down the dirty old smoke. Logon via train wireless, work for a few hours, arrive at the dirty old smoke. Take a pain in the arse trip across London, destination Thurrock. Hot and sweaty by the time I arrive, have to stand in the hot sun for 15 minutes before I get in, sweat once I’m inside. Finish my work in 15 minutes, have to sit around for almost 4 hours waiting for the other guy to sort his side out. Have to leave so I’ll get home in time for work tonight. The only good thing about coming home was this extremely pretty girl sat opposite me on the train and we chatted for a few minutes. She really was very nice indeed. (No riding, obviously). I fucking hate London.

Present
Working now, will be doing till midnight

Future
Working tomorrow night, working Sunday night, working Monday fucking morning, we start at 5am.

Best get some big rides in over the weekend.

Bike: Humuhumu
Distance:28 miles

Commute. Great going in. Great coming back. Great.

Pottering into Newton Le Willows up a hill, a chap on a road bike caught up to me, I heard his gears go and looked over my shoulder. He was there, sweaty faced and sticky, smiling triumphantly because he’d caught up to me.

Bless.